A healthcare data processing system typically communicates healthcare data between one or more medical devices and one or more information systems for a healthcare provider such as a hospital. The medical devices are typically located at a patient's bedside in the patient's room and monitor the status of the heath of the patient, such as the patient's pulse rate, by generating healthcare data. The information systems may be located inside or outside of a person's room and monitor the healthcare data provided by the medical devices and other information systems for one or more patients.
Standardized data interface formats, such as a Medical Information Bus (MIB), permit the information systems to identify the source of the medical device providing the healthcare data. The Medical Information Bus (MIB) is typically used for locally interconnecting the medical devices in a patient's room. However, the majority of the medical devices presently available on the market do not conform to such a standardized data interface format. Hence, the information systems, such as a computer with a monitor, are typically located inside of a patient's room and typically require hardware and/or software drivers that interface with the various data interface formats provided by the medical devices.
A problem with this configuration is that new hardware and/or software drivers need to be installed in the information system every time a new medical device is added or changed. To overcome this problem, individual hardware interface drivers, containing hard-coded circuits, are connected between each medical device and the information system to convert the data format of each medical device to a standard data format that can be recognized by one hardware and/or software driver installed in the information system. These hardware interface drivers merely shift the interface driver functionality from inside the information system to outside the information system. Therefore, the problem remains that each new medical devices that is added or changed requires a new hardware interface driver, which is costly and time consuming to install and maintain.
Some healthcare data processing systems provide an information system, such as a computer with a monitor, which is located outside of a patient's room and typically provides centralized monitoring for one or more patients. However, this information system also requires that new hardware and/or software drivers need to be installed in the information system every time a new medical device is added, which is costly and time consuming to install and maintain.
It would be desirable to have a healthcare data processing system wherein new medical devices could be added or changed, without requiring the installation of new hardware and/or software drivers, to permit a “plug and play” solution. It would further be desirable to have a healthcare data processing system that could provide more information than that typically provided by the medical devices. Preferably, the information would include the source of the location of the healthcare data, such as the patient's room, bed, and name.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system for processing data acquired from multiple medical devices that overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional healthcare data processing system by providing a “plug and play” solution and by adding information associated with the healthcare data.